[RESOLVED] Log on issue

[Rex A. Butcher]

Hi there,

My computer use is pretty simple and as a result, I am the only user. I have no idea what Administrator Account is (although I believe that I am the administrator) and there is only one user, me!

When I originally installed XP Pro, I did not enter a User Name or Password as I do not need one. Booting just happens and I am at the desktop without any futher input.

Recently, I have been running out of space on C: so using Partition Magic, I have increased the hdd space by taking some gb's from E: This obviously entailed PM moving data on both D: and E:. Before doing this, I did take an image of C: (XP Pro.)

The initial result seems to have been OK. Most programs seem to run although I have had to uninstall and reinstall a couple of utility programs that I use.

However, this evening when booting, everything changed. Up popped the screen Log on to Windows with the User name and Password greyed out (probably because these don't exist) and a Logon Message, 'The system could not log you on. Make sure your User name and domain are correct, then type you Password again.'

Just Hit OK and away we go, to the User Account screen (Me), click on it and the desktop appears as it should.

What has changed and how do I get back to booting without these logon screens?

Many thanks,

Rex

[SuperSparks]

If you install TweakUI, you can use that to get automatic logon. Go to Logon>Autologon, and check "Log on automatically at system startup".

Microsoft Powertoys for XP

[Rex A. Butcher]

SuperSparks,

Thank for your reply.

Got it! Had it since W98 and AutoLogOn is ticked. Actually, the first thing I did was check that it was still OK, so I unchecked, rechecked and Applied, but has not made any difference.

Any other suggestions.

Rex

[DeP]

To logon automaticly go to Start > Run and type in:
control userpasswords2
From there Uncheck 'Users must use username and password....'
Click Apply, in the next screen fill in your username and click OK.

If 'Users must use username and password....' is already unchecked check and click apply.
Next Uncheck it and click apply and fill in your username in the next screen.

[Rex A. Butcher]

DeP,

Did that and it made no difference.

However, I found a MS reg hack via Google; followed is to find that I did not have DefaultUserPassword key and that AutoAdminLogon was 1. Created the key and changed AutoAL to 0, restarted and it looked good.

Until........ I got the original XP default installation screen with none of my icons displayed, colours wrong, etc, etc. Went back to Regedit and changed AutoAdminLogon back to 1, rebooted and all seems to be fine now.

Having said that, the actual booting process was different. Got a Welcome screen and not the Loading your personal settings message.

May be I need to do a Restore Point or use the image.

Rex

[DeP]

Control Panel > User accounts > Select Logon and logoff options
Uncheck Use Welcome screen

[Rex A. Butcher]

Gentlemen,

Many thanks, problem seems to have been resolved.

Guess is is about time that I did a clean reinstall of the OS.

Rex